The invention relates to a vehicle roof having at least two rigid roof components.
A vehicle roof having at least two tiltable and slidable rigid cover elements is known from German patent document DE 199 24 792 C1. The cover elements serve to selectively close or at least partially expose a roof opening. Gutters are provided laterally to and extending the length of the roof opening. A bead-shaped seal is arranged transversely on the leading side of one cover element in the direction of travel, which forms a sealing closure between adjacent cover elements when the roof is closed. A primary gutter and a secondary gutter are provided in front of the bead-shaped seal. The two gutters are arranged such that a cascade is formed, and the extremities of the primary and the secondary gutter open into the gutters extending lengthwise along the sides of the roof opening. In this way, any water running off when the cover elements are extended is transported way.
The primary gutter is formed integrally with the bead-shaped seal and the secondary gutter is conformed as a U-shaped rail that is connected by a forward section to the underside of a cover element. The bead-shaped seal is affixed to the U-shaped rail.
German patent document DE 44 43 525 C1 describes a roof arrangement for closing a roof aperture in a vehicle, wherein an elastic sealing member is arranged on a water draining device of a rear roof component and incorporates an integrally conformed, elastically deformable sealing section. The sealing section is shifted by a border of a roof component that is movable in conjunction with an opening or closing movement of the roof component between a tensionless, upwardly extended rest position providing splash protection and a tensioned position in which the water draining device is covered.
A leading frontal surface of a rear segmental roof component is furnished with a forwardly oriented ridge-like prolongation as an extension of the underside, the free extremity of which is curved upwardly to form an engaging lip in direction to a ridge-like prolongation of the other segmental roof section. An angular profile is realized by a frontal edge of the segmental roof section, the prolongation and the engaging lip, thereby forming an upwardly open channel for a water drainage system. An elastic sealing member made from rubber is attached on the engaging lip of the water drainage system by means of a flange configuration and secured thereto. The elastic sealing member is produced in a single piece and has a form that extends the full length of the engaging lip, that is to say the full breadth of the segmental roof section and the corresponding roof aperture of the vehicle.
In addition, a vehicle roof having at least two tiltable and slidable rigid cover elements is known from German patent document DE 197 56 021 C1. Each of these cover elements is furnished with a projecting sealing element along the respective leading edge, which element fits beneath the rear edge of the forwardly adjacent cover element when the cover elements are in the closed position.
The sealing element is furnished on its front edge with a prominent sealing lip, which in combination with a sealing member defines an upwardly open water collection cavity. The water that is collected in this water collection cavity may be forwarded into lateral water channels in known manner.
All the roof arrangements and sealing means intended to seal individual roof elements described in the above and known from the prior art share the same drawback, namely that the water collection channels provided for collecting water which may be on said roof elements only fulfil their function as far as to a certain maximum pivoting angle of the roof elements or cover elements. As the pivoting angle increases, the water that has collected in the water collection channels disadvantageously spills out and runs into the interior of the vehicle because all the channels are U-shaped.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle roof of the type described in the introduction, in which the water that runs off individual roof components, especially while opening the vehicle roof, is effectively prevented from entering the vehicle interior even for large pivoting angles of the roof components.
In keeping with this object and with others which will become apparent herein after, one feature of the present invention resides in a vehicle roof having at least two rigid roof components which are tiltable and foldable away rearwardly in an opening operation, wherein at least between the roof components a profiled sealing element extending transversely to the vehicle is provided on a frontal edge of a first roof component, and the first roof component is furnished with an associated collecting channel for collecting water that runs off when the first roof component is moved, and wherein the profiled sealing element incorporates a channel that is connected with the collecting channel, said channel providing at least one orifice via which water that is in the collecting channel is transferred to said channel as the first roof component is moved.
The embodiment of the profiled sealing element with the channel according to the invention presents a sealing arrangement that forms even for large pivoting angles of the roof components a channel, from which water that has collected cannot escape into the vehicle interior while an opening operation of the vehicle roof.
This arrangement also takes into account the fact that water on the roof components runs off more abundantly at the start of an opening operation. With the configuration of the profiled sealing element according to the invention, collected water is advantageously prevented from spilling because the water is able to enter but unable to exit the channel due to the at least approximately spiral shaped cross-section of the profiled sealing element.
Other advantageous embodiments of the invention and the novel features which are considered characteristic for the prevent invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to the construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with accompanying drawings.
The drawing, the description and the claims contain numerous features in combination. A person skilled in the art will also appreciate the features individually to advantage, and will be able to conceive of other practical combinations on the basis thereof.